Haven't updated the blog in a while - must be because I haven't much free time!! It's Las Fallas this week, so all the classes have been cancelled (to be honest, my situation hasn't changed much...).
Las Fallas!
The city has had a great atmosphere. Streets become covered twice a day - once for the Mascletas (bangers) at 2pm everyday, which is five minute display in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and the other for a firework display at 1am in Alameda, at the bridge (both at the centre).
The mascletas were televised everyday with cameramen on top of the buildings, and a helicopter circling around the plaza (square). A few of us joined the rush to the front where the live television was being recorded (Canal9, a Spanish channel). It would have been great to be a bit higher, but only piso owners and companies had balconies for this.
Thousands of people were bunched together on the ground, and if you try to move past a Spanish person, they get really fiesty.."No puede pasar!" (You cannot pass). On several occasions we saw Spanish people bickering with each other about this...Which reminds me...there is no such thing as a 'queue' in Spain - they just move straight in front of you as if you weren't there...
The noise was so loud - really vibrates your body. One old guy looked really unwell and nearly collapsed during the show - medics took him away.
We also watched the burning of the large Falla in the same Plaza - The last night of Las Fallas on Friday where they are all burnt across the city.
The falla that would be burnt
The firework display at Alameda. I didn't take any more pictures really - only videos.
Here are a couple of pictures of our Calle Serpis/Poeta Artola street Falla!
And some other fallas from around the city. They are really well-made, much better
than I expected. The largest falla this year was made in Nou Campanar, a place
North-West of the city - This cost 600,000 euros to make.
A reenactment of how I injured Leo (Italian friend) in football the other week
A falla with Michael Jackson touching a kid - Hah!
A Lightshow - We didn't find out this was going on, but it sounded really good.
Here are a couple of pictures from someone else:
Las Fallas was great, but I can understand why some of the locals try to escape it for the week. The random bangs can get really annoying when you're out and about. Myself and a friend (Nick) went for a run through a small park during the week, and it was like a warground in a movie...constant surprise bangs right next to you (mainly from 4 year old
The metro at it's capacity...The only way to actually get on the train
was to push everyone else in further (so they got squashed inside against
the other side of the train door) - was funny.
At the time of writing some of this, the weather had been great, and it felt a lot more like summer, but now it's gone back to being cloudy again - really unusual for here apparently. Whenever the weather is bad, you've got to make use of it by doing some work - Easier said than done! - It's almost impossible to to work during a sunny day..."Wanna play football??" and soon to be..."Coming to the beach??"
Holiday to Morocco!
The other day we booked our flights to Morocco - flying from Alicante to Fez with RyanAir. Ida y vuelta (return flight) cost 110 euros - much more expensive than a month ago, but it's only going to rise from now. There are about 15 of us going from the 7th to 14th, in three separate groups. One group decided to go with a tour company with everything included for something like 550 euros, but we'd heard from others that it's possible to see a lot of Morocco for under 250 euros, so we're going privately. I tihnk it'll be nicer to not have a constant "We have to be there this day at this time" schedule. We'd rather do what we want in our own time.
So, seeing the desert, going for a two day excursion on camels (sounds awesome - my camel's going to be the fastest...), the dunes - maybe to try sand-boarding?, All sounds wicked (another phrase the American's laugh at me saying). Looking forward...!
My workload is really low. Two out of my three projects are pesonal ones that have deadlines of June, and the other is Tipografia with more frequent deadlines. I could probably use old design work for the projects, but I want to at least do one project that I could use in my portfolio for when I go back to England. So...I'll start the project tomorrow...or try to...
Puerta 13 fiesta de casa!
So I'd heard the house parties in puerta 13 were great during the first semester...time to find out! - After inviting a few people, word of mouth spread the confirmed number of guests to around 100 on Facebook, usually meaning much more in reality - so we knew our flat was going to die tonight...Let's hope for no complaints!
Thanks to Mattia (Italian flatmate) having contacts from the first semester, we managed to get a strobe light, smoke machine, photographer and an 80 euro-worth DJ for the night (who happens to be from London). People started coming from 10pm onwards - the doorbell was ringing every three seconds, and the flashing strobe light onto the street definitely pin-pointed where the party was...also making it easy for the Police to find (more about that later...!)
We cleared out the room, shoved the furniture in the neighbour's piso (Spanish students who would join the party too) to make as much space as possible. All the valuables were moved into our rooms (although recently there hasn't been much space due to our flat being more popular than the nearest hostel! - currently seven of us living in three rooms - (Myself, Carlos, Mattia, two Polish friends, and a German...Oh and since tonight, another Spanish addition for one night...so eight). I've had to sacrifice my second mattress to accommodate...Not happy.
The party was at it's best at 1-2am - the whole place was so lleno (full) - no-one could move, especially nearer the door where people were still coming in from the corridor. So all was good....until the Police knocked at our door. Perhaps it was the 70 year old woman in the room below us that rang them? - Nah, I doubt it - I'm sure she loves some banging House/Electro music from time to time, especially so late in the night!
Our flat, eeek.
Carlos was going crazy as he was the only Spanish resident, and with the most responsiblity (despite not being the one who organised the party). It was really funny seeing him discuss the situation with the Police (or rather simply nodding his drunken head and agreeing with everything they said with a constant smirk on his face). Mattia is also there, throwing his Italian arms about to express his bullshit story - one consisting of the party having nothing to do with us (perhaps forgetting that the Police can see right inside the flat at the complete mess), and rather the guests were either randomly knocking on our door while we were busy having dinner, or they were trying to find another door somewhere else in the building. I'm sure the Police believed it and couldn't possibly have seen the constant flow of people rushing out of our flat...!
A Poeta Artola Botellon anyone?!
(many people waiting to see what's happening)
Where was I during all this? - I'm not at the stage of Spanish where I can begin to bullshit in detail, so I was wondering around, not being phased by the whole thing. I didn't know how the Police were here, and being a temporary exchange student made me tranquillo (also a overally-used word with a meaning of 'chill out'). My name still hasn't been added to the flat contract too, so even less of a problem.
Actually about two hours later the Police came again (different people this time), but nothing came of it. And people were still arriving at the party at this time...Sorry guys, party's over!
So moral of the story? - Next time, remember to create the Facebook event telling people that the party is at a different room number in the building!!
Oceanografic!
Today we visited the Oceanografic - the largest aquarium in Europe, part of the City of Arts and Sciences. Here are some pictures (although not great quality with the compact camera).
The coolest animals...
The dolpin show
Que mas?/Other randoms...
So it's already been over two months since I came to Spain. I think it's been easier to adapt than I thought - helped by the fact that the Erasmus community is English speaking. It's amazing being surrounded by so many nationalities - Right now I can't think of a country in the EU that I haven't met a person from.
At least another four months to go - I'm not sure when I'll be coming home but I found out recently that Matt and Carlos are paying for the flat until August 15th, which is on the contract. Not sure about my situation on this, but many people are staying until the World Cup is finished in the middle of July, so this leaves another month - perhaps a few friends can come over for a week or two. Also gives extra time to brush up on my soon-to-be fluent Spanish (or not.....).
Free paella again tonight at Fraggle Rock!
'Yo' - It's meanings in different languages:
In English, it means 'Hey'
In German, they say it to agree to something, like 'Yea'.
In Spanish, it's used as a clarifer for 'I'
...mildy amusing, and hardly worth mentioning...
Spanish people dont take their shoes off in the house - don't they feel uncomfortable?
An English bar called Big Ben in Plaza Honduras (a neighbourhood really close to my flat)
...surrounded by Fallas decorations of course
La proxima vez, voy a escriber algunas mas cosas en espanol...
Eso es todo para ahora, Cya!
